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Duane Reade Expands Social Reach With Boo-Ti-Ful Legs Campaign

Drugstore chain Duane Reade has developed a series of successful campaigns using its “Parallel Persuasion” equation, which is designed to converge user-generated content, social media and public relations.

Specifically, the equation was created to help ensure each social campaign delivers tangible results, according to Calvin Peters, PR and Digital Communications Manager for Duane Reade. The equation is: Brand Advocacy + Brand Voice + PR Integration + Conversation Relevance = Social ROI.

“This equation has allowed us to be highly visible via social as a regional chain here in the New York Metro Area, nationally and worldwide,” said Peters in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. We are one of the fasted growing accounts on Twitter and the most followed drugstore chain on the planet.”

With its latest initiative, the “Boo-ti-ful Legs” campaign, Duane Reade now has as many as 5,246 pieces of content in its marketing arsenal, including mentions on blogs, as well as Facebook, Twitter and news outlets. Up to 157.4 million impressions were generated on Twitter using the designated #DRLegCandy campaign hash tag.

Boo-ti-ful Legs was developed to generate awareness and sales for its branded hosiery line, Doris International. To date, the campaign helped boost hosiery sales by 19%. At its peak, the campaign encouraged a 137% increase in sales.

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Due to the undeniable success of the “Show Us Some Leg” campaign, which helped increase Doris International sales by 28%, Duane Reade executed Boo-ti-ful Legs to help get a jump start on the crucial holiday season.

“Doris International wanted to explore a way to get a jump on holiday sales and leverage Halloween and the customary costuming that’s inherent within it,” Peters said. Consumers participated by uploading original photos of them wearing Duane Reade brand hosiery with their Halloween costumes on the company Facebook page using the FanGate app. Consumers who published the #DRLegCandy hash tag with their photo were automatically entered for a contest to win a series of prizes, such as an iPad Mini, iPhone 5S, or a grand prize trip to New York City with a friend. Winners were selected during a voting period where consumers “liked” specific photos.  

Encouraging consumers to share their Halloween ensembles “resulted in a great way to integrate the hosiery brand into our customers’ lifestyles and experiences,” Peters said. Other components of the campaign, such as a #DRLegCandy Twitter Party and a Duane Reade VIP blogger series, were integrated to the Facebook campaign to “allow customers to engage in a seamless journey, incorporating Halloween shopping ideation and their ultimate costume experience; all while connecting with Duane Reade on strategic digital, social media and in-store platforms in a relevant and fun way.”

During the one-hour Twitter party, which took place on Oct. 16, 2013, #DRLegCandy was the number-two trending topic in the U.S. Approximately 261 unique Twitter users participated in the chat, helping to generate 1,905 unique tweets, 1,173 re-tweets and 40.7 million impressions.  Overall, 61% of users created more than one tweet during the party.

An Integrated Approach

As with all social campaigns, Duane Reade took an integrated, omnichannel approach to Boo-ti-ful Legs, so consumers had the ability to learn about and participate in the campaign at their convenience.

In addition to the Facebook campaign and user-generated content, Boo-ti-ful Legs offered mobile integration and #DRLegCandy Instagram content curation from the FanGate application.

In-store signage, radio, loyalty e-blasts, a QR code-based landing page and editorial coverage derived from a press release all helped generate campaign awareness and participation.

“All elements incorporated the campaign hash tag for tracking, monitoring and content management on a corporate and customer level,” Peters said. “The entry rules and regulations were then written based on the proposed elements within the campaign by a third-party vendor and reviewed by our corporate legal team.”

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